Bossier students highlight bullying after Haughton student's suicide

Bossier Parish students are putting bullying and suicide in the spotlight in the new play, "The Way It Is."

Students from the Talented and Gifted program in Bossier Parish are acting out a series of skits dealing with the everyday stresses of students.

"He gets bullied every single day," says Haughton High freshman Camille Burson. Burson is just one of the students acting in the play. She says she has seen bullying in her school.

Last year, there were 113 reported cases of bullying in Bossier Parish schools, officials say.

Just three weeks ago, a Haughton High School student committed suicide.

"The one thing that keeps running through my mind is what if this play was a little bit sooner, just a little sooner, we could have told him about it, or he might have second guessed," says Mason Hooper, a classmate of the student.

This project was funded through a grant from the Decentralized Arts Funding Program.

The production will debut at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, at Bossier High School. You can also catch it at 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23.

It sounds just like the plot line of a television show- a woman naked and afraid, lost in remote woods. But Lisa Theris’ journey back to civilization was real life and a real struggle that lasted a month in Bullock County.

It sounds just like the plot line of a television show- a woman naked and afraid, lost in remote woods. But Lisa Theris’ journey back to civilization was real life and a real struggle that lasted a month in Bullock County.